unnecessarily
unnecessarily adverb: in an unnecessary way; not by necessity.
Adverb
unnecessarily (comparative more unnecessarily, superlative most unnecessarily)
- In an unnecessary way; not by necessity.
- He unnecessarily repeated much of what others had covered.
- There be […] lords that can prate
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo;1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- Synonyms:
- needlessly, pointlessly, uselessly, for no reason
- To an extent beyond what is needed.
- The food provided was unnecessarily generous, especially for an event meant to raise money for the hungry.
- In the days of their [the Roman armies’] grandeur, when no enemy appeared capable of opposing them, their heavy armour was laid aside as unnecessarily burdensome, their laborious exercises were neglected as unnecessarily toilsome.1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 5, Part 1, pp. 307-308
- Synonyms:
- unduly
unnecessarily meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
unnecessarily in Hindi
- in an unnecessary way
- अनावश्यक anāvaśyak
unnecessarily in Tamil
- அவசியமில்லாமல், தேவையில்லாமல்
unnecessarily in Marathi
- अनावश्यकपणे
unnecessarily in Urdu
- بیکار, بلاضرورت, ناحق
More languagesFewer languages
- unnecessarily in Bengali
- অযথা ojotha, অকারণ okaron
- unnecessarily in Telugu
- అనవసరంగా anavasaraṅgā
- unnecessarily in Malayalam
- അനാവശ്യമായി, അനാവശ്യമായും
- unnecessarily in Kannada
- ಅನಗತ್ಯವಾಗಿ, ಅನವಶ್ಯಕವಾಗಿ
- unnecessarily in Punjabi
- ਬੇਲੋਡ਼ੀ ਤੌਰ ਉੱਤੇ, ਬੇਲੋਡ਼ੀ ਤੌਰ'ਤੇ
- unnecessarily in Gujarati
- નાહક nāhak
- unnecessarily in Odia
- ଅନାବଶ୍ଯ଼କ ଭାବେ, ଅନାବଶ୍ଯ଼କ ଭାବରେ
- unnecessarily in Nepali
- अनावश्यक रूपमा
Examples of unnecessarily in a sentence
- Pray let not any-body unnecessarily be acquainted with this shocking affair;1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 1, Letter 33, p. 235:
- “Wait a moment,” said he, quite unnecessarily, for she could not have stirred;1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “A Crisis”, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume I, London: Smith...
- […] they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down,1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 17, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, New York: Macmillan:
- […] it seemed that she used his name unnecessarily often,2007, Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 2008, page 28:
Synonyms of unnecessarily
- needlessly
- pointlessly
- uselessly
- for no reason
- unduly
Antonyms
Forms of unnecessarily
| comparative | more unnecessarily |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unnecessarily |
Origin of unnecessarily
From unnecessary + -ly or un- + necessarily.
Questions about unnecessarily
- What does unnecessarily mean?
- Unnecessarily means in an unnecessary way; not by necessity.
- What is unnecessarily in Hindi?
- Unnecessarily in Hindi is अनावश्यक (anāvaśyak). See Unnecessarily meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use unnecessarily in a sentence?
- Pray let not any-body unnecessarily be acquainted with this shocking affair;
- What part of speech is unnecessarily?
- Unnecessarily is an adverb.
Words near unnecessarily in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unnecessarily (page history and authors); unnecessarily (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unnecessarily (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unnecessarily (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অকারণ (Bengali) (page history and authors); unnecessarily (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unnecessarily (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unnecessarily (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); નાહક (Gujarati) (page history and authors); unnecessarily (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unnecessarily (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “unnecessarily.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unnecessarily. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.